Spring break is approaching. The school year is winding down. But there is still so much content to cover and review. With students’ attention spans running low, you need to sprinkle a bit of magic into your content to keep them engaged and learning. That’s why I’ve always felt that St. Patrick’s Day couldn’t have come at a luckier time! Just when students need a boost in motivation, St. Patrick’s Day activities skip in (like a mischievous leprechaun) to help your lessons strike gold.
St. Patrick’s Day Kindergarten Activities
Your kindergarteners have made giant leaps this school year, which means there is plenty to review before they transition into first grade. Try these fun, festive St. Patrick’s Day activities to keep skills fresh.
#1 Counting the Gold
Time to count your treasure! In this activity, students practice counting from tens. Give students a starting number that’s inside the pot of gold, such as 20. Then, display individual coins that students will count. For example, if you lay out 5 coins, they would count up from 20 until they reach 25.
#2 A Train Full of Gold
In this St. Patrick’s Day math activity, students will practice counting by tens. Inside the Whiteboard Warm-up video, students will count train cars, each loaded with 10 shiny gold coins. For example, if there are 5 train cars in the image, they would count up to 50!
#3 Leprechaun Tricks
Those sneaky leprechauns are up to no good! Practice letter recognition with this silly St. Patrick’s Day activities. In the Leprechaun Trick videos, students will identify letters that have been turned upside down and flipped backward by the mischievous leprechauns. Have students write the lowercase and uppercase letters on their whiteboard and display it for a quick check.
#4 Four Leaf Clover
Another St. Patrick’s Day kindergarten activity is four leaf clover word families. On a clover, place images of four words within the same family. For example, jet, net, vet, and wet. Students will then write the word family -et on their whiteboards.
It’s your lucky day. You can snag all of these kindergarten resources, and so much more, inside the Whiteboard Warm-Ups membership!
St. Patrick’s Day First Grade Activities
#1 Lucky Dice
It’s the luck of the roll! Have students roll three dice and then add the numbers together. With my Whiteboard Warm-Up video, the dice will appear on the screen for the whole class to see. Students will write the sum on their whiteboard for a quick check.
#2 Gold Fever
In this St. Patrick’s Day first-grade activity, students will compare two-digit numbers with less than, greater than, and equal to signs. In the video, the leprechaun will have to choose between two pots of gold (and he wants the one with the most!). Students will then write the correct sign on their whiteboard to show which number is greater.
#3 Pinch Me!
If you’re not wearing green, watch out! You might get a little pinch. Students will practice their color words with this activity. Display a color word on the board. Have students say the word out loud and practice writing it down. You can also have students spell the word letter-by-letter with you.
#4 The Lucky Horseshoe
One of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day activities is with propositions. In the Whiteboard Warm-Up video, students will be given a proposition like “on top of” or “under”. Then, they’ll see an image of a leprechaun and a horseshoe. They’ll decide if the image matches the proposition and write “yes” or “no” on their whiteboard. This grammar lesson is golden.
Want all of these first-grade activities? You’ll find them inside the Whiteboard Warm-Ups membership!
St. Patrick’s Day Brain Breaks
When you see students' energy start to dwindle (or they have a serious case of the wiggles), it’s time for a brain break! These St. Patrick’s Day activities will get the energy flowing and refocus their attention, so students can fully engage in the lesson. It works like a charm!
#1 Freeze Dance
What’s more entertaining than a dancing leprechaun? Students will dance along with the music until the video asks them to freeze! Then, they’ll complete a task out loud. For example, in a number recognition freeze dance, students will say numbers 0-10 as they pop up on the screen.
#2 Sight Word Yoga
You’ll be happy you had this St. Patrick’s Day brain break in your back pocket. This yoga brain break video will calm your class and prepare them for the next activity. They’ll practice deep breathing, strong poses, and sight words! A word will be read out loud during the video, students will locate the word and model the flexible leprechaun pose that matches that sight word.
These St. Patrick’s Day activities are a great way to add some fun to your classroom, while still practicing content! You can grab all of these holiday activity videos + more brain breaks, literacy, and math review videos in the Whiteboard Warm-Ups membership.
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